Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, one of President Biden's most influential voices outside of his family, sent a rare public message Wednesday morning suggesting she was trying to urge Biden to consider withdrawing from the election.

“It's up to the president to decide whether he wants to run,” she said on MSNBC. “Time is running out and we're all urging him to make that decision.”

Pelosi peppered her comments with praise for Biden and his record. But she has been particularly careful and calculating in her public remarks, well aware of Biden's repeated and forceful insistence that his decision has already been made. She made her remarks on MSNBC's “Morning Joe,” Biden's favorite cable news show, the same venue where Biden made his most defiant declaration yet Monday that he would stay in the race.

Pelosi, a San Francisco Democrat, is no longer in the Democratic leadership but remains in the House after completing one of the most consequential terms in history. At 84, she was three years older than Biden and spent much of his political career with him, including witnessing the death of her close friend, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, last year after she became ill while in office.

Pelosi said Biden would have “overwhelming support” from House Democrats. “He's loved, he's respected, and people want him to make that decision.”

She also suggested she would not make a more direct call for him to back down.

“I told people, whatever they're thinking, to just wait and not bring it out until they've told someone privately or seen how this week plays out,” she said.